WOOLSAFE NEWS SPRING/SUMMER 2011
Since the early days, WoolSafe has carried out further work in response to changes in cleaning chemistry, product safety requirements, environmental concerns and carpet developments.
One example was the investigation into so-called oxispotters: spot removers with added peroxide. T ese products had been available since about 2000 to professional cleaners, but a couple of years later they started appearing as consumer products too.
WoolSafe, in cooperation with a number of UK carpet mills, researched the eff ect these products might have on typical carpet colours: were they likely to cause bleaching eff ects or change colours in other ways?
T e results were generally positive, as no signifi cant bleaching occurred of any of the colours in the carpets the mills used for their tests. However, it was clear that there were limitations to the amount of peroxide that could be allowed and this was subsequently build into the WoolSafe test for this type of product.
Current research being carried out by WoolSafe is concerned with the eff ect the pH and buff ering of diff erent types of cleaning agents has on the cleaning effi ciency and colour bleeding in patterned wool and synthetic carpets.
We are monitoring the change in the pH of carpets cleaned with buff ered and non- buff ered cleaning chemicals in diff erent ways. Changing the pH of the carpet fi bres can have a signifi cant eff ect on colour fastness and the potential for colour bleeding.
We are also investigating to what extent the pH of a cleaning agent aff ects the eff ectiveness with which it will remove dirt and stains from
both wool and synthetic fi bre carpets. T e results of these experiments will not be available until later this year and will be discussed in the next issue of WoolSafe News.
09
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20